


How can you mend a broken heart

by Zip001



Series: Stories of grace [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 16:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8541175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zip001/pseuds/Zip001
Summary: Outtakes from A Little Bit of KindnessCatelyn's POVAfter Ned and Catelyn tell Sansa of the King's desire to wed her.After she heard of Robert's betrayal of her daughter.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DKNC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DKNC/gifts).



> I am trying to show more empathy for Catelyn. She has been vilified - no person is perfect. I want to explore her relationship with Ned using my main pairing as a mirror to reflect on her feelings of the past. I love the stories of DKNC as they are so beautiful and moving and much inspired by them.

Catelyn looked out of the window and saw her little lady float towards the godswood with sweet Lady by her side.

"She really loves him," she whispered sadly. It was not merely a passing crush, an idolation of a hero.

"Aye, and he loves her." 

"How can he not? She is so easy to love."

"He would cherish her and take care of her. And she is good for him."

She turned and looked hard at her Ned. He looked steadily in her eyes, apparently reassured that all would be well as the King loved their eldest daughter and she him. Ned wanted Sansa to wed his best friend, thinking she would make a great Queen for Robert. It was true that the King was quite gallant and kind to their daughter, so unlike the brash young man she met years ago. Ned could not even fathom that it would make it worst, the heart ache that will come. It was only if you truly cared could your heart be truly broken. 

Catelyn knew that it was no brave front the King had regarding his deceased Queen as her young naive daughter believed - he was not distraught because he did not care for her. Her sister even told her that he hated his wife, who she remembered was as different from her sweet Sansa as the moon was from the sun. Would he come to despise her sweet girl like he did with his late Queen? Shaking her head, Catelyn could not see that; and that made her even more saddened.

Wanting her daughter's happiness and knowing that Sansa believed it to be with King Robert, Catelyn knew that she should not fight it anymore - it was all but done. But she just wanted Ned to understand.

"He would hurt her," she quietly said. Robert was a man, and weaker than most, weaker than Ned and Ned...

"Robert is not the same man. He loves her - he stopped drinking and has treated her well."

"And because he loves her and she him, you think he would not hurt or betray her? It is only when you truly love and let someone into your heart can you be so hurt and disappointed."

Ned looked at her in shock, realizing what she meant and was alluding. He quickly closed the gap and held her. Catelyn did not want his pity or even his apology but yet she could not help but lean into his still strong arms, leaning her face against his hard chest, smelling his scent which reminded her of the North, their home. She loved him. 

And then Catelyn thought of little Sansa, deceptively so soft, yet her most stubborn child, never backing down when she believed that she was in the right. Sansa was much stronger than herself at her age and even when she had Robb. She would have to believe that her daughter would be able to weather the storms of marriage and politics. 

_Winter is coming_.

\------

Rage! Spite! Hate! 

She was screaming non-stop when she heard, so angered that she became almost hysterical. If only that fat oaf was fatally gored by a wild boar during one of the hunts they had to supply the meat for the wedding feast. She wanted to come to King's Landing with a small force to cut off the King's prick but Robb refused to release any men. She even thought for a brief moment that it would have been different if Brandon were alive. But she stopped that unkind and awful thought - she loved her fool of a husband.

She then recalled Ned's letter - his handwriting was so shaky and his words full of the same rage she felt. He wanted to quit his post, void his daughter's luckily unconsummated marriage, and take her back home, back to the North. He bitterly complained that nothing good ever happened when Starks go South, repeating the sentiment that many Northerners shared about the South. Robert was not his King, nor his friend. Ned was so frustrated that Sansa refused to even hear him out, furiously whispering about treason and even at one point herding and detaining him and members of their household and guards in the Tower of the Hand. She made him pledge and vow under all the gods, old and new, his love for her and her mother, to not strike out or harm the King and the Kingdom - that a strike against Him was a strike against her, his Queen. And she did the same for their Household, reminding them that while the North never forgets, she is the Queen. Her only concession was to have Jory be appointed her Sword and her Queensguard supplemented with few Northern guards as she believed that she was being under attack, that this was a plot against her.

Stunned and angered at the news, Catelyn did not leave her room, even refusing to eat. The food tasted like ash. She remembered it all again, as if the betrayal happened just yesterday, Ned bringing home baby Jon while she waited for him with their son Robb. She thought of Sansa being crushed and publicly humiliated, and she got even angrier. She was rightfully angry with Robert, that fat oaf! She was angry with Ned, who she wanted to blame for this mess and herself for not putting her foot down when she could. But she was also so very angry with Sansa - how could she be loyal to him? She could not understand in her anger Sansa's seemingly stupid actions.

There was a knock and even though she did not respond, Old Nan bursted in and muttered that her Lady needed to eat, that she had other children and that Sansa, the Red Wolf, could not only take of herself but also her pack, which included that fat arse. She needed not to worry too much for Sansa - the others, especially Robb, well they needed much guidance.

Enraged, Catelyn ordered her out and was met by steely and quite alert eyes.

"You only see through your eyes, and your vision is so narrow, seeing only what is before you and your lens are much colored by your feelings. She sees, and especially Bran, they see all, the games the Roses play, the foulness of the Lions and the dangers to come. Cooler and wiser heads prevail, rather than heads being cut off."

Old Nan's grip on her arms were so tight, and she could not help but be chastened. She thought of her young daughter and even younger son in that cesspool of the South, knowing from her sister of the various plots and even murder. One false move and even Ned's head could roll. Finally she saw the wisdom in her daughter's actions, forestalling a rift between the North and the King that could be exploited by the other great houses who seek to take the Iron Throne.

"Divide and conquer. They seek to divide us and destroy us when we are weakened and fighting amongst us."

But Old Nan was not done with dressing her down. She reminded Catelyn that her daughter needed her to soothe her broken heart and spirits.

_Family, duty, honor._

With the parchments Old Nan handed her, she began to write, telling Sansa of what happened long ago and the lessons she was still learning. It was a cathartic experience as she found out that she held anger towards herself for loving Ned. She felt lighter as she penned each word, forgiving herself and her Ned. There was still some resentment, but she hoped that Sansa, her wiser and stronger child, would understand and be happy once again.

_There will be times when you need his strength and compassion as he needs your strength and compassion now. There is grace in forgiveness - you will feel lighter when you do._

**Author's Note:**

> I was told by my father that if you remain angry, eat rage all day and night, that you would never be full so that you continue to gorge yourself on spite and be filled with hate. Dunno if this is a Vietnamese saying but I agree with him here. In a world of hate and division, I will always choose to love and be inclusive.


End file.
